


All around the house is the jet-black night

by Penknife



Category: A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Genre: M/M, Overly Rationalized Excuses For Sex, This Might Be A Functional Relationship If These Were More Functional People, Writing Rainbow Flash Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:47:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26775373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penknife/pseuds/Penknife
Summary: It's the most practical of arrangements.
Relationships: Jacob Marley/Ebenezer Scrooge
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32
Collections: Writing Rainbow Black





	All around the house is the jet-black night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Etnoe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etnoe/gifts).



Ebenezer Scrooge was not given to indulgence of any kind, and so when Jacob Marley kissed him as he went to put one measured pittance of coal upon the fire, Scrooge made a discouraging sort of sound and said gruffly, "There's no time for such nonsense."

Marley's face was flushed, perhaps from the unaccustomed glass of brandy he had urged Scrooge to in order to ward off the unseasonable chill, or perhaps from some measure of dismay. All the same, he extended his hands to the meager fire without visible hesitation and said, "But think of the advantages. It costs nothing, unlike other methods of satisfaction."

"I don't understand your meaning," Scrooge said. In some ways he was, perhaps, strangely unlearned for his age; not ignorant, certainly, of what the common populace got up to, but unused to seriously considering its application to his own case.

"Then I will spell it out for you. To court a woman you must give her gifts, and dress yourself up in finery, and perhaps buy theater tickets or keep a carriage; costly. If you win her, you must wed her, and then be saddled with all her worldly wants, and perhaps indigent relations to support as well, to say nothing of the cost of children; ruinous. Which leaves those who sell themselves for coin, and then one must not only render the sum demanded, but fear blackmail, or contracting some unpleasant disease."

"The best arguments for forgoing the entire business I have ever heard," Scrooge said.

Marley looked at him sideways, still standing uncomfortably close to Scrooge before the fire. It occurred to Scrooge that he might have made a retreat himself, and he wondered idly why he had not. "A man may eat little, but he must eat. A man has needs, and from time to time he must slake them."

"He can do that himself, if it comes to that, which also costs nothing," Scrooge said.

Marley took a half-step toward him, which seemed to bring him immeasurably closer. "But think of the savings on coal and candle wax from sharing a bed for the night. When that is factored into the balance sheet, you will see that achieving mutual satisfaction becomes not only free of associated expenses, but a positive good."

That was difficult to argue with, and so Scrooge found himself ascending toward Marley's chamber, feeling bloodless and strange, as if he hardly knew himself. Marley's bedchamber was as spare as Scrooge's own, and the candle Marley lit was already burned nearly down to its last fractions of an inch.

"We won't need light for long," Marley said. "Undress and get into the bed, and I will show you the advantage of my plan in the most persuasive of ways."

Scrooge undressed, still uncertain that Marley's arguments were entirely sound, and slipped beneath the thin covers. Marley came to join him, and touched him with cold hands. It woke a sort of very distant memory, of having desired—what? Not the ruthless efficiency with which he brought himself off when he found himself hardening unwillingly. Soft hands, perhaps, to touch him, and a soft mouth on his, to be caressed and held and instructed by a gentle beloved somehow both knowing and innocent—

What there was, instead, was Marley urging him onto his back and teasing him into hardness, his hands firm and cool and relentless. It frightened him, he had to admit it, and yet it touched that long-forgotten place, making him yearn for more. "Show me," he heard himself say, and Marley shifted to lie atop him, the man's hard cock rubbing against Scrooge's own.

"Stroke it; only until I tell you to stop, or you'll lose the chance of completing our satisfaction."

Scrooge stroked as he was bid to do, not hard and fast but slowly, curious at the weight of the man's member in his hand. As he went on, Marley's breathing quickened, and he began to feel an eagerness building in his own most sensitive parts, his cock hard and dragging against the man's belly as Marley ground and thrust into his hand.

"Hold off," Marley said, his voice ragged. "It's time I entered you, or I'll finish before I can."

"Will it hurt very much?" Scrooge couldn't help asking, although he wasn't certain that he cared.

"Not with a man who knows what he's about; another advantage of taking your pleasure from a friend rather than some painted dolly," Marley said. It was rare for Marley to say the word "friend," and it warmed some chill place in Scrooge's heart enough that he let himself be guided to draw back his knees despite his skepticism, and only flinched when Marley's fingers, slick with some kind of grease or oil, went in where he must intend to thrust his cock directly.

It felt uncomfortable, but no worse than he feared, and after a moment, he felt a sort of warming inside, as if there were sensitive places up his arse where they had no right to be. Marley shifted his weight, canted Scrooge's hips up, and began pressing his hard cock in.

At the first real thrust, Scrooge was taken aback by how urgently his own desire mounted. His cock, which had been idly rubbing against Marley's belly, was now achingly hard and seemed to throb with pent-up need. For the first time since the embarrassing stirrings of boyhood, he felt that he might spend himself against his will.

He wondered if he should tell Marley to stop to prevent it, but the man's face was red and he was thrusting away with a will. Despite Scrooge's reluctance to enjoy a thing beyond its worth, he found himself enthusiastically straining to press more of his body against Marley's. The explosion that had been building up was now so close that he was certain he couldn't restrain it if he tried.

"Jacob—" he began, but he wasn't sure what he meant to say, and instead of finding some sensible remark to make, he grasped at the bedsheets, his hands in claws, and spent himself helplessly in great spurts against Marley's belly.

Far from seeming disconcerted, Marley pumped even faster and harder inside him, and then groaned and sagged atop him. Scrooge could feel him breathing, panting away, sweat and semen drying on both their skins.

Finally Marley pulled out and rolled over, shifting away from him in the bed and leaving a cold spot between them. "You see," he said, his voice rather hoarse. "It is the most practical of arrangements. And if you share the bed for the night, we can count the entire matter up to thrift."

Some part of Scrooge felt warmed at the idea of having a bed partner for the night, and not waking alone in the cold hours of morning darkness. Some part of him still ached for something more—another kiss? It seemed a great indulgence to press for one now.

"You are a practical man," he said. That was, after all, why they were so well suited. Marley leaned over to put out the candle, and the blackness of the night descended, though with the warmth of another body and the sound of breathing, it did not weigh so heavily as some nights it did when Scrooge was alone.


End file.
